A few weeks ago, my brother found Constance Hockaday's lecture at her Boggsville Boatel listed in last night's Nonsense, told me he'd pick me up in ten minutes, and off we went!

I spent the whole time sketching into the dark - couldn't really see how these sketches were working out until I got home to look at them indoors.

Here are some of the folks watching the lecture along with us. You can tell I was very into the neon "Boatel" sign that welcomed us when we arrived, and that I was still listening to what Constance was saying while I sketched!

You can see the full set of my Boggsville Boatel sketches here.

Prismatic pools what? I had no idea, going into Yellowstone. Just NO idea. I even looked at postcards at the gift shop and laughed at how the photographers must have amped up the color intensity for the commercial prints. Nope.

Not at all.

Oh look, there's Mike!

Misbehaving as always.

Gunslinger interlude!

Quick, someone splattered paint all over the landscape!

With clouds echoing the flowers below, writ large.

More microorganisms!

So much inspiration for next time I sit down at the torch to work with my glass!

There's more yet to come, of course.

I took a ton of photos in Yellowstone. I really didn't expect to - Mike kept telling me that Yellowstone is overrated, and anyways, geysers sounded boring. Frankly, geysers are boring! They look like fireworks without the colorful explosions up above, and without that grotesque and marvelous smell. (I have very fond memories of lying on my back in an amusement park as a teenager dangerously close to where the fireworks were being set off, thrilled by the gunpowder stink washing across my face. Probably sounds disgusting when I describe it now, but it was incredible at the time.)

But oh, somehow I wasn't expecting the prismatic pools and the colorful layers of thermophilic bacteria and such..!

First, something of interest only to me! This tree was right next to our campsite. I spent my bleary morning trying to identify precisely what kind of pine it was. Those proto-cone looking bits were soft and squishy and released pollen when flicked - fascinating!

Old Faithful dissolving into the clouds:

I expected to see dinosaurs chasing me around these pools near Old Faithful:

Or maybe witches:

I kept falling in love with the layers of color and texture of the heat-loving microorganisms near those pools by Old Faithful.

Mike kept asking what I thought the texture would be like if we touched them.

Not soft or hard, I'd think...

In fact, my best guess is that they would feel a lot like mother of vinegar.

Some people eat mother of vinegar, you know.

Can you imagine? And doesn't this stuff look like modern art?

I don't even like most modern art, and I thought this was beyond beautiful. I expect to be inspired by it in my glass work for ages to come.

What, no penguins?

You can see why people have that idiotic urge to wade in this stuff.

Again, the color textures!

Like rust bubbling up out of the earth.

Pools of it.

The water looked deceptively cool and refreshing.

This geyser only erupts when it has examined its priors and executed a cost-benefit calculation and determined that it is rational to do so:

I've been sketching lately. I've focused more on sculptural work with glass and metal and fiber over the past few years, but this summer I started feeling that urge to polish my illustration skills and play with 2d media again.

I fell in love with Urban Sketchers, and have been carrying sketching supplies around NYC for the past few weeks and having fun submitting scans of my work to their Flickr group.

I should really post my sketches here regularly, from now in. In the meantime, let's catch up! I have three favorites this week so far.

Dave finally managed to sit still long enough for me to get a rough sketch with him with my old dip pen and the sample of Noodler's Walnut ink I picked up from Goulet, finished with a waterbrush wash:

While waiting for a court appearance in L&T court in Manhattan, I sketched this view of that charming building in Columbus Park (Chinatown, NYC). I used a Pilot Varsity fountain pen that I'd previously disassembled and refilled with a sample of Noodler's Cayenne ink, again finished with a waterbrush wash):

This gentleman was kind of enough to give me permission to stare at him across a very tiny table in Starbucks and sketch him one evening. I used a Pilot Varsity fountain pen that I'd previously disassembled and refilled with a 1:1 blend of samples of Noodler's Sequoia and Brown inks (neither of which did I like very much on their own), again finished with a waterbrush wash):

And some pieces from last week:

I saw this homeless man sleeping outside a Starbucks window right by Union Square about a week and a half ago. He sat up at some point while I was inking and painting this, but didn't make eye contact or speak to me at all. I gave him all the cash I had on me at the time as soon as I was done.

(Pencil sketch, inked with a brush pen, pencil erased, watercolor washes to finish the piece.)

After finishing up an appearance in NY County Supreme Court on a matrimonial matter last week, I sat for a bit in that little outdoor food court area by Centre and Reade and drew the Surrogate's Court.

(Pencil sketch, inked with a fine-tipped waterproof pen, pencil erased, waterbrush washes and just a touch of watercolor and white gel pen to finish the piece.)

I'm sort of ridiculously fond of this fellow I sketched sitting in a little city park during lunchtime last week, with assorted pigeons.

(Pilot varsity fountain pen.)

And this last one, from a photo I took in Rhyolite, Nevada during this summer's road trip.

(Pencil sketch, inked with a brush pen, pencil erased, watercolor washes to finish the piece.)

We stopped by Olympia to visit a few friends on our way up from Portland to Seattle. They had galloping chickens, and friendly goats.

Goat beard!

They were very playful.

And eager for treats!

Goat treats.

A little too eager, perhaps.

I find it hard to get bored of eager goat photos.

My friend Erica in Colorado just told me where the phrase "got my goat" comes from. Apparently racing horses often had (or have?) goat companions to keep them calm, so years ago competitors would steal other racer's goats so that their horses would be too upset to race to the best of their ability. Thereby getting their goat!

They didn't seem to mind everyone grabbing their horns to move their heads out of the way as needed. Sadly, I forgot to try to wrestle with one of them while I was there.

Are goats legal in NYC? I need to look into this! I want a pygmy goat in the back yard. I'd put it on a leash and take it for walkies in the dog run in the park. It would be awesome!

Thanks, guys! It was great to see you and your extended charming companions!